Tag: Kristiana Sfirlea

Thirteen-year-old Rose Skylar sneezed a magical storm cloud at birth, and it’s followed her around ever since. But when “Stormy” causes one too many public disasters, Rose is taken to Heartstone, an asylum for unstable magic. Its location? The heart of a haunted forest whose trees have mysteriously turned to stone.

They say the ghosts are bound to the woods … then why does Rose see them drifting outside the windows at night? And why is there a graveyard on the grounds filled with empty graves? Guided by her future selves via time traveling letters, Rose and Marek—best friend and potential figment of her imagination—must solve the mystery of the specters and the stone trees before the ghosts unleash a legendary enemy that will make their own spooks look like a couple of holey bed sheets and destroy Heartstone Asylum.

Letters from the future are piling up. Rose can’t save Heartstone herself. However, five of herselves, a magical storm cloud, and a guardian angel who might very well be imaginary? Now that’s a silver lining.

But will they find what killed the ghosts before what killed the ghosts finds them?

Oh, the joys of being your own babysitter! Self-employment had never tasted so sweet. Yes, lack of pay was a slight disadvantage, but why would a girl be counting coins when she could be counting the steps from her house to the heart of a forbidden forest?

Of course, just because she was her own babysitter didn’t mean she was alone strolling the backwoods of her family’s estate. Rose was never alone, not with the little gray storm cloud following her wherever she went. Inside, outside, in the bathtub or in bed, there it was dripping raindrops like a runny nose. Lightning combed her curls till every strand was a live wire and the thunder…well, like most uncomfortable noises, thunder picked the absolute worst times to crack. Her storm cloud was, without any competition, the biggest nuisance in the domain of Chunter Woods.

Gosh, she loved that thing.

“I’m a good babysitter, aren’t I?” Rose asked her storm cloud. Stormy considered this, fluttering in thought, and patted her head affirmatively. Her hair poofed like a kernel of popcorn. “Thought so.” She nodded in satisfaction.

She really was a good babysitter. Qualified in all babysitting necessities such as storytelling, how to open child safety locks, and—“Can we do that thing where you sock someone in the stomach when they’re choking?”

Stormy swooped, ramming between her ribs with the force of a fist. She belly-flopped on the ground, supplies spilling out of her rucksack. “Good,” she wheezed. “Good to know.”

About the Author:

Kristiana Sfirlea is a writer of MG fantasy involving time travel and things that go bump in the night.

As an author, Kristiana knows what it means to get in character. She spent five years volunteering as a historical reenactor and trying her best not to catch her skirts on fire as a colonial girl from the 1700s (leading cause of death at the time next to childbirth). Working at a haunted house attraction, she played a jumping werewolf statue, a goblin in a two-way mirror, and a wall-scratcher — so if she’s standing very still, growling, checking her reflection, or filing her nails on your wall, be alarmed. Those are hard habits to break.

A proud homeschool graduate, Kristiana credits much of her development as a writer to her schooling experience, which also helped her combat a learning disability, dyslexia, and clear the path for her love of reading. Inspired by a local oddity, the Sweetreads Bookmobile, Kristiana dreams of the day she can run her own mobile bookstore. Or haunted house attraction. Or both. Look out, world — here comes a haunted bookmobile! (And this is precisely why writers should never become Uber drivers.) She loves Jesus, her family, and imaginary life with her characters.​